BRAVES WIN, 4-3, AS METS START TRIP ON SOUR NOTE

By CRAIG WOLFF, Special to the New York Times

Published: May 9, 1987

ATLANTA, May 8—
Dale Murphy did not have a good jump, but then Gary Carter did not have a good pitch to handle: a breaking pitch, down and in. His throw to second bounced once, twice, into center field. Murphy, who had walked with one out, was off for third base.

That left it to a former Yankee, Graig Nettles, whose specialty is an uppercut swing that practically assures fly balls. Facing Jesse Orosco, he hit a fly to medium right field. Murphy tagged up from third and scored, and the Braves came away tonight with a 10-inning, 4-3 victory over the Mets.

Thus, the beginning of the Mets' seven-day, seven-game trip was a failure. They left 10 runners on base, Ron Darling received another no-decision, and Carter's struggles continued. He came into the game batting .223 with 1 run batted in over the last two weeks. He had one hit tonight, but he made the crucial error in the 10th, allowing Murphy to scramble to third.

''Last year that ball would have bounced into his glove,'' said Carter.

As it was, Dave Johnson, the manager, said that Howard Johnson should have done whatever he could to block Carter's throw from getting into centerfield. The shortstop stayed on the third-base side of second base instead of in front of the bag.

''I can't criticize him,'' said the manager, ''because he hasn't played a lot of shortstop but when the ball hits the dirt, you got to let it hit you.''

Also, Darryl Strawberry who caught the fly ball hit by Nettles, said that because he was playing in with one out he had to go back for the catch and was not able to plant himself for a strong throw.

Even Ron Darling, who turned in one of his best performances of the season, had three bad pitches to mull over. All three were hit out for bases-empty home runs. Albert Hall hit one to lead off the first, Murphy to lead off the fourth, and Ozzie Virgil hit one to start the seventh. Virgil's tied the score at 3-3. Darling walked the next hitter and then was pulled from the game.

This meant that the strange story of his career would continue. It was the 43d no-decision for Darling in 114 career starts. Asked how he would rate his performance, though, Darling seemed satisfied.

''Much better,'' he said. ''I'm still in sort of a rut. I made three bad pitches: They were all hit out. But I had some velocity and that's nice to know.''

Each of his home runs were hit on fastballs and he said he only regretted the pitch to Murphy. ''I wanted it out,'' he said. ''I got it in.''

After Hall's home run, the Mets tied the game when Mookie Wilson singled, stole second and scored when Keith Hernandez's groundball to the right side that just got by Nettles, who is not as fancy now that he has moved from third base to first and not as fast now that he is 42.

Darling did not allow another hit until the fourth - Murphy's homer. In the sixth the Mets went back ahead. Their break came when Rafael Ramirez, the Braves' error-prone shortstop dropped a throw from the second baseman, Glenn Hubbard, who was trying to convert Kevin McReynolds's ground ball into a double play. It was one of three errors for Ramirez.

The next hitter, Howard Johnson, walked, loading the bases for Dave Magadan. The rookie third baseman, a left-handed hitter batting against Zane Smith, a left-handed pitcher, hit a hard single to right, bringing two runners home. The Mets had a 3-2 lead.

By the time the Braves came to bat in the seventh, Darling appeared to have settled in. He had retired seven straight hitters including Murphy, who looked a little desperate chasing a 3-2 delivery that skitted away from the right-handed slugger. But on a 3-2 pitch, Virgil hit the long homer sent the game to extra innings.